Colorado lawmakers plan package of bills on immigration, union organizing

Twelve months into President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation program, Democratic lawmakers in Colorado are preparing a three-pronged package of bills aimed at regulating immigration enforcement and the detention facilities where authorities hold immigrants — and further tightening a law that Gov. Jared Polis tried to sidestep last summer.

The first bill in the package, Senate Bill 5, was introduced on Wednesday, the legislature’s first day back at work. It would give Coloradans who are injured during immigration enforcement actions the ability to sue federal officers, part of a burgeoning movement in states across the country.

“The world of the United States has changed — and not for the good, in terms of these issues,” said Sen. Mike Weissman, an Aurora Democrat sponsoring the bill with Sen. Julie Gonzales of Denver. “Even since spring 2025, the tactics deployed by federal agents are getting more violent, more shocking, more violative of legitimate expectations of people in this country and of the law. By the day, it is increasingly urgent that we, at the very least, provide a remedy for that.”

The other two bills were still being drafted. They will likely be introduced in the state House in the coming weeks, lawmakers said.

One would build upon legislation passed last year that further limited how local officials can share information with federal immigration authorities. The new bill would require that state agencies publicly release data requests from immigration officials, and it seeks to alert people whose data is being sought in those requests.

That follows directly on the heels of Polis’ attempts to comply with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement subpoena received by state officials in May. A judge ruled that complying with the subpoena — which sought records on the sponsors of unaccompanied immigrant children — would likely violate state law.

Polis, who has contended the subpoena was related to potential child abuse and exploitation, is still trying to find a way to turn over some records. Attorneys also argued in that litigation about whether anyone but the immigrants themselves had legal standing to file lawsuits, an argument complicated by the fact that immigrants are typically unaware that their data may be turned over at all.

“We’re also seeing an uptick of these unlawful detentions, and it’s important for us that everyone is safe in the state of Colorado,” said Rep. Elizabeth Velasco, a Glenwood Springs Democrat. She’s sponsoring the second bill with Rep. Lorena Garcia. “It feels very urgent and of the times that, as we’re protecting the state against the Trump administration, we stand up for everyone that lives here.”

The bill would also institute tighter regulations on ICE’s only current detention center in the state, in Aurora, and on any others the agency opens.

The third bill underscores that local law enforcement cannot wear masks in most cases, said Rep. Meg Froelich, an Englewood Democrat. But it would not apply to federal agents. This week, the Denver City Council began mulling a potential ordinance that would try to restrict federal agents from wearing face coverings when they carry out arrests and detentions.

Federal officials generally have challenged local and state governments’ attempts to regulate federal immigration and law enforcement activities.

The bills are all coming in response to aspects of the immigration crackdown that has unfolded since Trump returned to office. Thousands of immigrants without proper legal status have been arrested in Colorado over the past year, most of whom had no prior criminal convictions.

Renee Good, a Coloradan living in Minnesota, was shot and killed by an ICE agent earlier this month. Attorneys and advocates have repeatedly criticized the conditions in ICE’s detention center in Aurora and have protested against plans to open more facilities in parts of rural Colorado.

In the late spring, a University of Utah college student was arrested after a Mesa County sheriff’s deputy tipped off ICE officers to her location and immigration status. The deputy appeared to have violated state law limiting that type of contact, and he resigned amid a lawsuit by the state attorney general’s office.

Garcia and Velasco said their bill would place liability on agencies, rather than individual state employees. That way, they said, an officer couldn’t just resign and end the case. Their bill would also require more transparency around task forces; the Mesa County deputy shared information with ICE in a task force group chat.

Other opening day legislation

Often, the first bills introduced in a legislative session represent the Democratic majority’s priorities and messaging. In addition to Weissman and Gonzales’ immigration bill, Democratic leadership unveiled dozens of bills Wednesday.

As expected, the Worker Protection Act — which would make it easier for organized workers to fully negotiate their union contracts without having to clear a second vote — was introduced again after Polis vetoed it last year. This year, it comes in the form of House Bill 1005.

Leadership also introduced Senate Bill 18, which would require state courts to suppress records of people who’ve changed their names — essentially keeping them private. The bill would also direct family court judges to weigh a parent’s acceptance of aspects of a child’s identity — such as their gender identity — when determining parental time. That’s a similar provision to one that was hotly debated in a transgender rights bill that was passed last year after the provision was stripped out.